Start Vibe Coding, You Have No Excuse
📖 Reading time: 3 minutes
This week I gave my partner a challenge: let's see who could build an application faster, both using vibe coding.
She's a Supply Chain professional with some technical experience. I'm an AI Architect with coding experience, a database and software development background.
The challenge was to build a functional inventory management application. She was using Replit because it required no coding. I was using Cursor with Claude.
What unfolded next was super cool. In about two hours of prompting, iteration, debugging and changing things, we both had a functional app.
The main difference? Mine was generic and didn't consider specific edge cases and nuances about the way inventory is managed, bill of materials, etc.
Hers was also functional and deeply practical.
But here's where it gets interesting: when we hit technical roadblocks, the tables turned.
The Real Winner? It's Complicated (And That's the Point)
Her app solved real supply chain problems mine couldn't touch. She built something that handled vendor lead times, seasonal demand fluctuations, and safety stock calculations. Mine? A glorified spreadsheet with a UI.
But when database connections failed and deployment issues surfaced, my technical background became the differentiator. What took me minutes to debug and resolve stretched into hours for her.
The lesson isn't that domain expertise beats technical prowess, or vice versa. The optimal solution requires both, and AI tools are finally making that collaboration possible.
This isn't just a humbling moment. It's a preview of how AI democratizes software creation and flips traditional power dynamics in organizations.
The implications for enterprise AI strategy are massive:
✅ Subject matter experts can now build solutions without IT bottlenecks
💡 Technical teams need to become facilitators, not gatekeepers
🔥 Speed to value increases when domain knowledge drives development
Three Frameworks Every AI Leader Needs
1. The Domain Expert Advantage
Traditional software development: Business requirements → Technical translation → Development → Testing → Deployment
Vibe coding reality: Domain expert → Direct AI collaboration → Immediate iteration → Working solution
The takeaway: Your most valuable AI developers might not be in engineering. They're the operations manager who understands workflow pain points and the finance analyst who knows exactly which metrics matter.
2. The Technical-Business Collaboration Sweet Spot
The real breakthrough was neither of us working alone. It was the moment we started collaborating:
Her domain expertise guided what to build and why it mattered
My technical experience accelerated debugging and deployment
AI tools bridged the communication gap between business needs and technical implementation
The enterprise insight: Vibe coding isn't about replacing technical teams. It's about creating new collaboration models where business experts can prototype rapidly, and technical teams can productionize efficiently.
3. The Production Reality Check
Here's what every AI strategy needs to account for: Prototype to production isn't just about features, it's about reliability.
Domain experts can build incredible solutions for their specific use cases. But when database connections fail, APIs break, or security vulnerabilities surface, technical expertise becomes non-negotiable.
Smart organizations are building hybrid development workflows:
Business experts lead rapid prototyping and requirements validation
Technical teams handle infrastructure, debugging, and production deployment
AI tools facilitate collaboration between both groups
Why This Matters for Your AI Roadmap
Every technical person reading this has probably had the same reaction I did: "But what about security? Scalability? Maintainability?"
All valid concerns. But here's the strategic reality: Organizations that don't embrace citizen AI development will get disrupted by those that do.
The competitive advantage isn't perfect code. It's the ability to turn business insights into working solutions faster than your competition can schedule a requirements meeting.
Three actions for next week:
Identify collaboration opportunities between your domain experts and technical teams
Run a hybrid vibe coding experiment where business and tech work together on a real challenge
Define your prototype-to-production handoff process before citizen development scales beyond your technical team's capacity
The future of enterprise AI isn't just about having the best technical talent. It's about empowering your business experts to become builders.
Your turn: What business problem in your organization could a domain expert solve faster than your technical team? Try it this week and share your results.
Save this if you're ready to rethink who your real AI developers are.